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Disclaimer:
The information provided in this guide is for educational purposes only. Overclocking your Steam Deck may carry risks, including potential damage to your device. We are not responsible for any harm or issues that may arise from following this guide. It is entirely up to you to decide if you want to proceed, and you do so at your own risk.

steam deck overclock

With the release of new, demanding games, you may want to give your Steam Deck a performance boost. Fortunately, overclocking is now natively supported starting with SteamOS 3.6.x.
Note: At the time of writing this guide, SteamOS 3.6.x is still in the Beta channel.
Update: SteamOS 3.6.19 was released to public on October 24, 2024. You can skip the preparation section below.

Preparing for Overclocking

To overclock, you first need to update your Steam Deck to SteamOS 3.6.x and ensure you have the matching BIOS firmware. Follow these steps:

  1. Go to your Deck’s Settings and navigate to the System tab.
  2. Under OS Update Channel, select Beta.
  3. Check for system updates and apply the update to SteamOS 3.6.x.
  4. Once the OS update is complete, go back to the System tab and check for a BIOS update. If prompted, apply the update and restart your Steam Deck.
  5. Ensure that everything is working properly, then power off your Steam Deck completely.
steam deck overclock

Entering the BIOS to Overclock

Now that your device is updated, you can proceed with overclocking by adjusting the CPU and GPU frequencies through the BIOS.

  1. Shut down your Steam Deck.
  2. Once it’s fully powered off, press and hold the Volume Up button and the Power button at the same time.
  3. Wait for the BIOS menu to appear.
steam deck overclock

In the BIOS menu:

  1. Navigate to the Setup Utility and go to the Advanced tab.
  2. Scroll down to find:
    • CclkFmaxOverride Control for the CPU frequency.
    • GfxclkFmaxOverride Control for the GPU frequency.
  3. Set these to Manual to enable frequency adjustments.
steam deck overclock

Overclocking Best Practices

The default frequencies for the Steam Deck are:

  • CPU Frequency: 3500 MHz
  • GPU Frequency: 1600 MHz

Keep in mind that not all chips are the same (commonly referred to as the “silicon lottery”), so overclocking results may vary. Start by slowly increasing the CPU and GPU frequencies and observe how your Steam Deck performs. If the device becomes unstable, you’ve pushed the overclock too far and should reduce the frequency.

In my tests, I was able to overclock my CPU to 4000 MHz and my GPU to 1900 MHz. However, note that in some games, overclocking the GPU may result in degraded FPS. In such cases, you can use the Steam performance overlay in-game to limit GPU frequency.

Increasing VRAM for more Performance Gains

Another performance tweak you can make is to increase the VRAM (UMA Frame Buffer Size), which is your device’s dedicated video memory.
Keep in mind that the Steam Deck shares RAM and VRAM, so increasing VRAM will reduce the available system RAM.

  • Default VRAM: 2 GB
    Depending on the game, increasing the VRAM beyond 2 GB may result in additional FPS gains. However, be mindful that not all games will benefit from this change, and it may affect system performance due to reduced RAM.

Remember, always proceed with caution and monitor your device’s behavior as you make adjustments.

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